OVERALL STATISTICS

BIOGRAPHY

Teddy Toole by Alex Service

The 1891 Census tells us that Teddy lived with his father, Edward, a bottle maker and mother Annie in Frazer Court, Pocket Nook. Annie, like so many living in the Pocket Nook area, was from Ireland. Edward was from Bromborough Pool in Cheshire. By 1911, Teddy was a coal drainer, living in Barber Street and, by that time, he had carved out a reputation as a fine scrum-half for the Saints, with good hands and a solid defensive game. He could kick goals too. He made his debut at Warrington on 21st April 1905, in the number seven jersey, with another Pocket Nooker, Tom Hall, beside him at stand-off. Unfortunately, the Saints lost 0-5, but young Teddy had a fine match. Indeed, he went on to play just under a century of games for the St. Helens club, after joining them from Pocket Nook Shamrocks. He joined a fine body of men from that area who honed their rugby skills on the local Cinder Field. Names like the Creevey brothers, Banks and Hall, and Frank Mooney spring to mind in that respect.

The Saints were hardly a power in rugby league at the time. Teddy scored two tries at Central Park for the Saints on 13th April 1906, but, typical of the times, the home team ran away with a 37-6 victory. Perhaps his most memorable match was against the touring New Zealanders, the famous All Golds on 30th October 1907. he formed a Pocket nook half-back line, with Teddy at stand-off and Matt Creevey at stand-off. Unfortunately the Kiwis won 5-24, but it remains one of the stellar matches in the history of Knowsley Road. His last match was at Knowsley Road against Leigh, when the visitors won 11-13 in a closely-fought contest. Teddy was at scrum-half, with George Scholes as his stand-off.

Teddy, who passed away in 1966, aged 79 did not appear to divulge much about his war service. Yet a tantalising piece of evidence comes from a letter sent back to Blighty by former Saints full-back John Mosedale:

I have heard from a chum from the same regiment that Teddy Toole has been missing about three weeks. His regiment was hotly engaged one morning and they lost a good number of men, but when they called the roll, poor Teddy was missing.

It is presumed that John was talking about his former team-mate at Knowsley Road and, suffice to say, Teddy did make it back to his regiment in the end and lived to fight another day. It is presumed, therefore, that he was possibly in the Royal Field Artillery, although this is by no means certain. His grandson, Terry, reveals that, like so many, he did not talk too much about that particular time in his life.

Back to rugby, Teddy left Saints to join Runcorn. Mike Latham tells us that he played 12 games [scoring one try] in 1912-13 and 6 games the following season. In 1939 Teddy was living in Pocket Nook Street and worked as a general labourer. He died in St Helens in September 1966 at the age of 80.